Breeding Territories (breeding + territory)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Changes in productivity and contaminants in bald eagles nesting along the lower Columbia River, USA

ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY & CHEMISTRY, Issue 7 2005
Jeremy A. Buck
Abstract Previous studies documented poor productivity of bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) in the lower Columbia River (LCR), USA, and elevated p,p,-dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dioxins, and furans in eagle eggs. From 1994 to 1995, we collected partially incubated eggs at 19 of 43 occupied territories along the LCR and compared productivity and egg contaminants to values obtained in the mid-1980s. We found higher productivity at new nesting sites along the river, yet productivity at 23 older breeding territories remained low and was not different (p = 0.713) between studies. Eggshell thickness at older territories had not improved (p = 0.404), and eggshells averaged 11% thinner than shells measured before dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane use. Decreases in DDE (p = 0.022) and total PCBs (p = 0.0004) in eggs from older breeding areas occurred between study periods. Productivity was not correlated to contaminants, but DDE, PCBs, and dioxin-like chemicals exceeded estimated no-effect values. Some dioxin-like contaminants in eggs were correlated to nest location, with highest concentrations occurring toward the river's mouth where productivity was lowest. Although total productivity increased due to the success of new nesting pairs in the region, egg contaminants remain high enough to impair reproduction at older territories and, over time, may alter productivity of new pairs nesting near the river's mouth. [source]


Influence of Age and Prior Experience on Territorial Behavior and the Costs of Defense in Male Collared Lizards

ETHOLOGY, Issue 1 2007
Andrew M. Schwartz
In polygynous species where males maintain strong interseasonal philopatry to the same breeding territories, older individuals have prior experience defending their areas, whereas younger individuals are defending a territory for the first time. Theoretical and empirical studies predict that under such conditions the cumulative costs of defense may be lower for older experienced males as a consequence of familiarity with environmental and/or social conditions in their particular local habitats. We used quantitative data from focal observational studies and introduction experiments to test the hypothesis that older collared lizard males (Crotaphytus collaris) with prior territorial experience (3 yr+ males) acquire larger territories allowing them to court more, different females, with greater frequency without incurring higher defense costs. Consistent with this hypothesis, 3 yr+ males controlled significantly larger territories and courted more females, without having significantly higher rates of territory patrol, frequencies of advertisement display, or aggressive interactions with same-sex competitors. Moreover, the intensity of responses to size- and age/experience-matched tethered intruders by 3 yr+ males was lower than that by 2 yr males in their first season of territory defense. Our results support the hypothesis that age/prior occupancy of territories lowers defense costs allowing males to defend larger areas and increase opportunities to court females, perhaps increasing mating opportunities. By contrast, 2 yr males may need to respond more aggressively to intruders because their ownership of territories is tenuous as a consequence of shorter territory occupancy. [source]


Nest predators affect spatial dynamics of breeding red-backed shrikes (Lanius collurio)

JOURNAL OF ANIMAL ECOLOGY, Issue 1 2004
Staffan Roos
Summary 1Predation may be a strong selective factor affecting individual behaviour and life histories. However, few studies have investigated whether predators affect breeding habitat selection of prey species. 2We tested whether breeding habitat selection and reproduction of a tropical migrant, the red-backed shrike (Lanius collurio L.), was related to the presence of breeding pairs of its potential nest predators, magpie (Pica pica L.), hooded crow (Corvus corone cornix L.) and jackdaw (C. monedula L.). 3Only magpie and hooded crow territories were associated with an elevated risk of predation based on an artificial nest experiment with nests mimicking red-backed shrike nests. Predation risk on real red-backed shrike nests was also higher close to nests of hooded crow and magpie than elsewhere in the landscape. 4Occupation frequency of known red-backed shrike territory sites during 3 years of study increased with increasing mean distance to the nearest magpie nest. 5Changes in spatial distribution of corvids affected the spatial distribution of red-backed shrikes. Vacant red-backed shrike territory sites were more likely to become occupied in the next year when magpie and hooded crows had moved away from the site, while occupied sites were more likely to be abandoned in the next year when at least hooded crows had moved closer. 6Our results suggest that breeding territories of nest predators may affect breeding habitat selection of prey species. Thus, a large part of an observed spatial dynamics of prey species may be caused by a corresponding spatial dynamics of predators. Because sink territories are occupied more irregularly than source territories, we suggest that the dynamics in predator sinks may be the driving force of the spatial dynamics of prey species. [source]


Territorial song and song neighbourhoods in the Scarlet Rosefinch Carpodacus erythrinus

JOURNAL OF AVIAN BIOLOGY, Issue 3 2000
Jochen Martens
Throughout the range of the Scarlet Rosefinch, its territorial song consists of 3,9 (usually 4,5) elements, of which there are 5 different types. The differences lie in the way the pitch of the element changes in time (frequency "slope") and the width of the frequency band. Within a given type of song, the various elements can be present in almost any combination. Therefore, so many song types can be formed that the songs in even small parts of the species' area are clearly distinct from one another. Despite this capacity for variation, however, by chance identical songs may be sung in widely separated parts of the area, in some cases by different subspecies. The species has not developed large-scale dialects or regiolects based on a song tradition acquired during an early imprinting phase. Scarlet Rosefinches tend to breed in small colonies, groups of up to about 15 pairs characterized by the same type of song (song neighbourhoods, formed by the development of a microlect). Microlects develop by a founder effect. When males, near one-year old or older, join one another to form isolated colonies after arrival in the breeding region, they adopt ("learn") the song type that will eventually characterize the colony from the first male to arrive at the site. After the colony has been founded, in most cases each male uses only one type of song during a breeding season, with practically no variation of the temporal and frequency parameters. Singing the same type of song, the members of a colony accept one another sufficiently to allow the breeding territories to be closely packed. It appears that a long-lasting capacity for acoustic learning, in combination with colony-like breeding and great ecological flexibility, has allowed the Scarlet Rosefinch to become the most successful species of the genus Carpodacus. [source]


Widespread hybridization between the Greater Spotted Eagle Aquila clanga and the Lesser Spotted Eagle Aquila pomarina (Aves: Accipitriformes) in Europe

BIOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY, Issue 3 2010
ÜLO VÄLI
Hybridization is a significant threat for endangered species and could potentially even lead to their extinction. This concern applies to the globally vulnerable Greater Spotted Eagle Aquila clanga, a species that co-occurs, and potentially interbreeds, with the more common Lesser Spotted Eagle Aquila pomarina in a vast area of Eastern Europe. We applied single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and microsatellite markers in order to study hybridization and introgression in 14 European spotted eagle populations. We detected hybridization and/or introgression in all studied sympatric populations. In most regions, hybridization took place prevalently between A. pomarina males and A. clanga females, with introgression to the more common A. pomarina. However, such a pattern was not as obvious in regions where A. clanga is still numerous. In the course of 16 years of genetic monitoring of a mixed population in Estonia, we observed the abandonment of A. clanga breeding territories and the replacement of A. clanga pairs by A. pomarina, whereby on several occasions hybridization was an intermediate step before the disappearance of A. clanga. Although the total number of Estonian A. clanga × A. pomarina pairs was twice as high as that of A. clanga pairs, the number of pairs recorded yearly were approximately equal, which suggests a higher turnover rate in interbreeding pairs. This study shows that interspecific introgressive hybridization occurs rather frequently in a hybrid zone at least 1700-km wide: it poses an additional threat for the vulnerable A. clanga, and may contribute to the extinction of its populations. © 2010 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2010, 100, 725,736. [source]


Sex-role reversal is reflected in the brain of African black coucals (Centropus grillii)

DEVELOPMENTAL NEUROBIOLOGY, Issue 12 2007
Cornelia Voigt
Abstract In most bird species males compete over access to females and have elevated circulating androgen levels when they establish and defend a breeding territory or guard a mate. Testosterone is involved in the regulation of territorial aggression and sexual display in males. In few bird species the traditional sex-roles are reversed and females are highly aggressive and compete over access to males. Such species represent excellent models to study the hormonal modulation of aggressive behavior in females. Plasma sex steroid concentrations in sex-role reversed species follow the patterns of birds with "traditional" sex-roles. The neural mechanisms modulating endocrine secretion and hormone,behavior interactions in sex-role reversed birds are currently unknown. We investigated the sex differences in the mRNA expression of androgen receptors, estrogen receptor ,, and aromatase in two brain nuclei involved in reproductive and aggressive behavior in the black coucal, the nucleus taeniae and the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis. In the bed nucleus there were no sex differences in the receptor or aromatase expression. In the nucleus taeniae, however, we show for the first time, that females have a higher mRNA expression of androgen receptors than males. These results suggest that the expression of agonistic and courtship behavior in females does not depend on elevated blood hormone levels, but may be regulated via increased steroid hormone sensitivity in particular target areas in the brain. Hence, aggression in females and males may indeed be modulated by the same hormones, but regulated at different levels of the neuroendocrine cascade. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Develop Neurobiol, 2007 [source]


Postfledging habitat selection of juvenile middle spotted woodpeckers: a multi-scale approach

ECOGRAPHY, Issue 4 2009
Carlos Ciudad
Despite its relevance for the persistence of populations, the ecological mechanisms underlying habitat use decisions of juvenile birds are poorly understood. We examined postfledging habitat selection of radio-tracked juvenile middle spotted woodpeckers Dendrocopos medius at multiple hierarchically-nested spatial scales in NW Spain. At the landscape and home range scales, old oak forest was the most used and selected habitat, young oak forests and pine plantations were avoided, and riverside forests were used as available. At a lower scale, birds selected larger diameter trees for foraging. Home ranges had higher densities of large deciduous trees (mainly oaks Quercus spp., but also poplars Populus spp. and willows Salix spp. >22,cm and >33,cm DBH) selected for foraging by juveniles than non-used areas. These results suggest that foraging conditions may drive, at least partly, habitat use decisions by juvenile birds. We also discuss the potential influence of intraspecific competition, the search for a future breeding territory in the early postfledging period and predation avoidance on habitat use decisions by juvenile birds. Contrary to previous studies on migrant forest birds, postfledging juvenile woodpeckers selected the same habitat as for the breeding adults (i.e. old oak forest), indicating that migrant and resident specialist avian species may require different conservation actions. Conservation strategies of woodpecker populations should consider the protection of old oak forests with high densities of large trees to provide suitable habitat to breeding adults and postfledging juveniles. The habitat improvement for this indicator and umbrella species would also favour other organisms that depend on characteristics of old-growth oak forests. [source]


The Relationship Between the Presence of Satellite Males and Nest-Holders' Mating Success in the Azorean Rock-Pool Blenny Parablennius sanguinolentus parvicornis

ETHOLOGY, Issue 3 2002
Rui F. Oliveira
In the Azorean rock-pool blenny, sexually active males may adopt alternative reproductive tactics. In the present paper the relationship between the presence of satellite males and the reproductive success of nest-holders was investigated by comparing nests with and without an associated satellite male. Males with an associated satellite male suffered more conspecific intrusions but they did not display a higher frequency of attacks towards conspecifics. Nest-holder males were more aggressive towards other conspecifics than towards satellites and the tolerance of nest-holders towards satellites was inversely correlated with the time spent by the satellites in the breeding territory, which suggests control by the nest-holder male of the satellite investment in shared territorial defence. Nest-holders with an associated satellite male had higher condition factors and received more female visits and more spawnings. These results bear two possible interpretations. (1) Nest-holders benefit from the presence of a satellite male by increased attractiveness of their nests to females; satellite males are mutualists helping to defend the nest-owner's territory and to attract females, which is why they are tolerated. (2) Satellite males associate preferentially with more successful nest-holder males which have higher condition factors, and by doing so have more opportunities to achieve parasitic fertilizations. Only experiments will allow these two hypotheses to be distinguished. [source]


Survival in a long-lived territorial migrant: effects of life-history traits and ecological conditions in wintering and breeding areas

OIKOS, Issue 4 2009
Juan M. Grande
Despite its key role in population dynamics and evolutionary ecology, little is known about factors shaping survival in long-lived territorial species. Here, we assessed several hypotheses that might explain variability in survival in a migratory Spanish population of a long-lived territorial species, the Egyptian vulture Neophron percnopterus, using a 16-year monitoring period and live-encounter histories of 835 individually marked birds. Cormack-Jolly-Seber capture,recapture models showed no evidence for effects of sex or nestling body condition on survival. However, the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI; an indicator of primary productivity) of natal territories had positive effects on juvenile survival, indicating that environmental conditions experienced early in life can determine survival prospects. Survival increased with age (0.73±0.02 in the first 2 years to 0.78±0.03 in years 3 and 4) to later decrease when birds were five years old (0.60±0.05), the age at which they acquire the adult plumage, abandon the communal lifestyle of juveniles, and may look for a breeding territory. At older ages, survival was higher for non-breeding (0.75±0.02) and breeding adults (0.83±0.02). Among the latter, birds that recruited into better territories had higher survival prospects. Age-specific variation in survival in this species may be related to behavioural changes linked to dispersal and recruitment into the breeding population, while survival prospects of adult birds strongly depend on breeding territory selection. These results suggest a tradeoff between recruiting soon, and thus reducing mortality costs of a long and extensive dispersal period, and trying to recruit into a good quality territory. Finally, annual survival rates for birds of all age classes were positively related with the NDVI in their African wintering grounds. Although this relationship was probably mediated by food availability, further research is needed to properly identify the limiting factors that are affecting trans-Saharan migrants, especially in light of global climate change. [source]